Virulence and Digital Culture Ryan E. Artrip Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In ASPECT: Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought François Debrix, Chair Timothy W. Luke Brian Britt Patricia Nickel April 18, 2016 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: Technology; Digitality; Digital Culture; Production; Information; Representation; Referentiality; Virtuality; Viral Media; Virulence; Sexuality; Linguistic Theory; Baudrillard; Hyperreality; Virtual Reality; Implosion; Critical Theory; Political Theory; Cultural Theory; Critical Media Studies; Poststructuralism; Epistemology; Ontology; Metaphysics Copyright 2016 Virulence and Digital Culture Ryan E. Artrip ABSTRACT (academic) This dissertation is a theoretical study of the role of virality/virulence as a predominant technological term in the reproduction of social and cultural information in the digital age. I argue that viral media are not new phenomena, only the name is new. Media have always behaved as viruses; it is only when they become hyper-intensified in digital technology that their virulent function surfaces in language and culture. The project examines processes of self-replication and evolution undergone by various new media phenomena as they relate back to the global profusion of social networks, data centers, and cybernetic practices. Drawing from several contributions in media theory, political and social theory, and critical media studies, I argue that digital media have a hyper-intensifying effect on whatever objects, subjects, or realities they mediate or represent; thus networked societies are virulently swarmed by their own signs and images in information. Through an examination of three primary categories of digital proliferation—language, visuality, and sexuality—I situate digital culture in a framework of virulence, arguing that the digital may be best understood as an effect of cultural hyper-saturation and implosion. I argue that virulent media networking processes come to constitute a powerful cybernetic system, which renders the human subject a mere function in its global operations. Lastly, I begin to develop a political critique of cybernetics, claiming that the proliferation of information, digital media, and communicative/representational technologies in the contemporary world emerges through an intensified ideological, economic, social, cultural, and metaphysical framework of productivism. This intensification engenders a system, or series of communicational circuits, whereby all techno-subjective activities are strategically stimulated, networked, recorded, and algorithmically appropriated to strengthen and reproduce 1) a global productivist system of cybernetics; 2) The material and ideological conditions for such a system to exist and thrive; 3) limitless virtual and digital production. Virulence and Digital Culture Ryan E. Artrip ABSTRACT (public) What does it mean to ‘go viral’ in the digital age? What kinds of technical and cultural distribution processes are involved in the viral circulation of informational media? Are there particular behavioral qualities, principles, or tendencies of information which lead to the popular metaphorical language of viruses as a means of describing its circulation in/through new media technologies? Does the popularization of viral media as a form/function of the digital age somehow mark a new, more democratic mode of mass media distribution compared to the golden ages of television, radio, and print media, respectively? To what extent do viral media represent a mode of informational production and distribution which is less dependent on the interests, ideological directives, and intentions/motivations of those in power? This dissertation examines the cultural and historical significance, social sensibilities, political possibilities, and broader philosophical meanings and implications of contemporary technological viral media culture. I develop a theoretical framework for understanding ‘digitality’ as the most recent peak, or a point of saturation, in a long history of accumulation: namely, the accumulation of linguistic and visual expressions of human reality through the explosive development of western civilization. Digital information technologies emerge, in part, as various managerial means of compressing and regulating the overproduction of such expressions. Thus, I argue, it is not so much that digital culture and viral media mark a new era, but rather an accelerated aggregation and intensification of old forms of technology and culture. This leads to a social reality in which informational media are generally found to proliferate, or ‘go viral’, almost instantaneously, and on a global scale. I argue that the technological network operations of the current so-called digital era of western culture— which is also the era of viral media, online social transparency, and the widely-celebrated democratic “freedom of information”—tends to mask increasingly complex, fragmented, and insidious forms of power and cybernetic social control. Through algorithmic manipulation, humans increasingly become mere functions of technological operations. Humans disappear into the digital operations of their machines. To François, with gratitude iv Acknowledgements I cannot fathom a comprehensive list of the family members, colleagues, friends, teachers, and students who share in the responsibility of this dissertation’s creation. In addition to the immensity of friendship and support I have received over the five year period in which it was conceived, researched, and written, I have accumulated an inexhaustible list of interlocutors. First and foremost, thanks to my parents, Steve Artrip and Tina Artrip, for their unwavering love and support. I owe them everything. Special thanks to my partner and confidante, Krista Craven, who was always willing to talk through an idea, read a draft, or simply comfort me as I anxiously crawl through the world—I am forever grateful to her. I also wish to give special thanks to my dear friends Sascha Engel, Jesse Paul, and Tyler Suggs, for their friendship, care, intellect, and emotional support. The impressive and cohesive involvement of this dissertation’s committee members is a testament to the strength and diversity of the ASPECT program at Virginia Tech, and its unique multidisciplinary configuration. It is a remarkable program, with truly remarkable people. The critical feedback which I have received from the committee has been vital to the project’s development. I am in awe of how charitable each member has been with their time, effort, and intellectual care. Thus, I am grateful to Brian Britt, Tim Luke, and Trish Nickel for their unyielding support. My advisor and dissertation committee Chair, François Debrix, has gone especially above and beyond. Over the past five years, he has rigorously engaged with my work through a multitude of conversations, and a countless number of drafts, iterations, and rewrites. His commitment to this study has been absolutely invaluable and irreplaceable—I dedicate this dissertation to him. I also wish to thank my colleagues in Frankfurt and Hamburg for their input and support during my 2012-2013 fellowship stay at the TU Darmstadt Institut für Politikwissenschaft: Peter Niesen, Oliver Eberl, Sabrina Engelmann, and the participants of the Frankfurt-Darmstadt Normative Orders Exzellenzcluster. Thanks to all of my friends and colleagues at Virginia Tech and across the globe for the comfort, existential and practical support, solidarity, and conversations over the course of this project’s coming to fruition (in no particular order): Mario Khreiche, Rikky Curtis, Kent Morris, Christian Matheis, Jordan Hill, Holly Jordan, Anthony Szczurek, Jenn Lawrence, Bert Wilson, Scott Nelson, Joe Pitt, Dylan Wittkower, Mike Butera, Nicholas Kiersey, Gerry Coulter, Dan Öberg, Astrid Nordin, Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Michal Klosinski, William Pawlet, Alan Shapiro, Andreja Zevnik, Tim Tracy, Eric Moffatt, Alabama Stone, Holly Peterson, Sandy Strohl, Annanda DeSilva, Ed Noble, Peggy Cooke, Stacy Blevins, Betty Wilkins, Alice Lay, Jessie McCormick, Blake Thompson, Darren Jackson, Alex Stubberfield, Will Shell, Tom Cupp, Carly Faulkner, Andrew Shaver, Pete Chudzik, Jeff Dean, Francine Rossone de Paula, Tim Filbert, Katie Cross, Jordan Laney, Shelby Ward, Tim Jennings, Andrenne Alsum, Millie Blackstun, Joshua Ensminger, Tamara Sutphin, Karen Nicholson, Kim Hedge, Sybil Denney, and the many others whom I have surely and regrettably left out. v Contents Part I DIGITALITY Chapter One. Introduction: Digitality, Digital Culture, and Technological Virulence 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 3 2. Digital Subjectivity and its Reproduction ............................................................................... 5 3. Mechanisms of Cybernetic Feedback: Feedback as a Conditional Principle of Digital Reproduction and/of Culture ................................................................................................ 13 4. The Hyperreal Accumulation of Information ........................................................................ 17 5. Modernity, Media Reproduction, and the Decadence/Disenchantment of Digital Culture: Theorizing Virulent Digitality through the (Post)Metaphysical ..........................................